Raimondo makes R.I. pitch to Elon Musk

Saturday

Jul 15, 2017 at 8:29 PMJul 15, 2017 at 8:29 PM

"He is very focused on storage for renewable energy, so I said we have the nation's first offshore wind farm," Raimondo told reporters at the final session of the National Governors Association Summer Conference. "The University of Rhode Island is top notch for anything undersea. How about collaborating with us on our innovation campus? Same thing around brain science ... I just laid out options for him to do it in Rhode Island."

Patrick Anderson Journal Staff Writer patrickanderso_

PROVIDENCE — Before warning the nation's governors of the threats to humanity posed by climate change and artificial intelligence, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk met Saturday with Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo about potential business opportunities in the Ocean State.

"Putting jobs in Rhode Island, my usual pitch," is how Raimondo described her conversation with Musk in a Rhode Island Convention Center back room on the last day of the National Governors Association Summer Meeting.

More specifically, Raimondo said, she wanted to interest Musk in investing in her proposed $20-million "innovation campus" contest or working on energy storage technology in Rhode Island.

"He is very focused on storage for renewable energy, so I said we have the nation's first offshore wind farm," Raimondo told reporters. "The University of Rhode Island is top notch for anything undersea. How about collaborating with us on our innovation campus? Same thing around brain science ... I just laid out options for him to do it in Rhode Island."

Raimondo used her position as the host of the Governors Association meeting and ducked out of a group lunch with U.S. Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to make the elevator pitch to Musk.

And Rhode Island leaders may have something to offer in return.

The state currently prohibits car manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers, the sales model Tesla uses, which has forced Rhode Island buyers to go out of state to pick the electric cars up.

"I would like Tesla to be able to sell here," Raimondo said. "Right now I see Teslas driving around in Rhode Island and they are purchased in Massachusetts. It would be a great thing if they could be purchased in Rhode Island so we get the sales-tax revenue, and for our customers."

Minutes after meeting with Raimondo, Musk left the governors, gathered for the final time at the Providence event, with a message both optimistic and ominous on the technologies changing the planet.

On one hand, Musk urged a lighter government regulatory hand on most industries and defended financial incentives for Tesla and in areas such as renewable energy.

He backed away from full deregulation when it comes to the race to develop artificial intelligence, which he called a "fundamental, existential risk to human civilization."

"Certainly there will be lots of job disruption, because robots will be able to do everything better than us," Musk said to the suddenly somber governors. "I am not sure what to do about this."

The nightmare scenario, as Musk described it, would see not only human jobs performed by robots, but potentially wars created by computers executing commands with no regard for human costs.

He didn't delve too deeply into specifics, but Musk suggested regulators force technology companies to pause in their competitive race to push further into computer intelligence.

Looking into the future of transportation, Musk said in 10 years most new cars will be electric and autonomous. In 20 years, driving with a steering wheel will be like riding a horse to work.

Musk also briefly touched on his departure from an advisory council to President Donald Trump, a decision based on Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accords.

"In every meeting I was trying to make the arguments in favor of sustainability and other issues, like making sure our immigration laws are not unkind," Musk said of his time on the advisory council. "In some cases I thought I made some progress, but then I think the Paris accord, if I stayed on the council, that would mean saying it wasn't important. It is important."

The Trump policy that overshadowed much of the governors' annual meeting was health care, where administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, launched an aggressive lobbying effort to gain support for a proposed Affordable Care Act repeal bill emerging in the Senate.

It's unclear whether their push made any headway with governors in Providence since Thursday.

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, who happened to conduct the Saturday discussion with Musk, was the focus of attention for his influence on potential swing vote Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada.

According to The Associated Press, Sandoval remained skeptical about the bill Saturday even after meetings with Pence and Price.

Raimondo, a Democrat, said Pence had not helped the administration's case by declining to take questions on health care Friday.

"I come out of this conference no less concerned than when I went into it," Raimondo said about the Trump plan's Medicaid cuts, which she has opposed all year.

— panderson@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7384

On Twitter: @PatrickAnderso_

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